Workgroup emotional intelligence: Scale development and relationship to team process effectiveness and goal focus

Over the last decade, ambitious claims have been made in the management literature about the contribution of emotional intelligence to success and performance. Writers in this genre have predicted that individuals with high emotional intelligence perform better in all aspects of management. This paper outlines the development of a new emotional intelligence measure, the Workgroup Emotional Intelligence Profile, Version 3 (WEIP-3), which was designed specifically to profile the emotional intelligence of individuals in work teams. We applied the scale in a study of the link between emotional intelligence and two measures of team performance: team process effectiveness and team goal focus. The results suggest that the average level of emotional intelligence of team members, as measured by the WEIP-3, is reflected in the initial performance of teams. In our study, low emotional intelligence teams initially performed at a lower level than the high emotional intelligence teams. Over time, however, teams with low average emotional intelligence raised their performance to match that of teams with high emotional intelligence.

The career engagement scale : Development and validation of a measure of proactive career behaviors

Careers today increasingly require engagement in proactive career behaviors; however, there is a lack of validated measures assessing the general degree to which somebody is engaged in such career behaviors. We describe the results of six studies with six independent samples of German university students (total N = 2,854), working professionals (total N = 561), and university graduates (N = 141) that report the development and validation of the Career Engagement Scale - a measure of the degree to which somebody is proactively developing her or his career as expressed by diverse career behaviors. The studies provide support for measurement invariance across gender and time. In support of convergent and discriminant validity, we find that career engagement is more prevalent among working professionals than among university students and that this scale has incremental validity above several specific career behaviors regarding its relation to vocational identity clarity and career self-efficacy beliefs among students and to job and career satisfaction among employees. In support of incremental predictive validity, beyond the effects of several more specific career behaviors, career engagement while at university predicts higher job and career satisfaction several months later after beginning work.

Network effects: Scale development and implications for new product performance

More and more innovations currently being commercialized exhibit network effects, in other words, the value of using the product increases as more and more people use the same or compatible products. Although this phenomenon has been the subject of much theoretical debate in economics, marketing researchers have been slow to respond to the growing importance of network effects in new product success. Despite an increase in interest in recent years, there is no comprehensive view on the phenomenon and, therefore, there is currently incomplete understanding of the dimensions it incorporates. Furthermore, there is wide dispersion in operationalization, in other words, the measurement of network effects, and currently available approaches have various shortcomings that limit their applicability, especially in marketing research. Consequently, little is known today about how these products fare on the marketplace and how they should be introduced in order to maximize their chances of success. Hence, the motivation for this study was driven by the need to increase our knowledge and understanding of the nature of network effects as a phenomenon, and of their role in the commercial success of new products. This thesis consists of two parts. The first part comprises a theoretical overview of the relevant literature, and presents the conclusions of the entire study. The second part comprises five complementary, empirical research publications. Quantitative research methods and two sets of quantitative data are utilized. The results of the study suggest that there is a need to update both the conceptualization and the operationalization of the phenomenon of network effects. Furthermore, there is a need for an augmented view on customers’ perceived value in the context of network effects, given that the nature of value composition has major implications for the viability of such products in the marketplace. The role of network effects in new product performance is not as straightforward as suggested in the existing theoretical literature. The overwhelming result of this study is that network effects do not directly influence product success, but rather enhance or suppress the influence of product introduction strategies. The major contribution of this study is in conceptualizing the phenomenon of network effects more comprehensively than has been attempted thus far. The study gives an augmented view of the nature of customer value in network markets, which helps in explaining why some products thrive on these markets whereas others never catch on. Second, the study discusses shortcomings in prior literature in the way it has operationalized network effects, suggesting that these limitations can be overcome in the research design. Third, the study provides some much-needed empirical evidence on how network effects, product introduction strategies, and new product performance are associated. In general terms, this thesis adds to our knowledge of how firms can successfully leverage network effects in product commercialization in order to improve market performance.

B2B service brand identity: scale development and validation

Several brand identity frameworks have been published in the B2C and the B2B brand marketing literature. A reliable, valid and parsimonious service brand identity scale that empirically establishes the construct's dimensionality in a B2B market has yet to be developed. This paper reports the findings of a study conducted amongst 421 senior executives working in the UK IT Service sector to develop and validate a B2B Service Brand Identity Scale. Following established scale development procedures support is provided for a B2B Service Brand Identity Scale comprising five dimensions; employee and client focus, visual identity, brand personality, consistent communications and human resource initiatives. Concluding remarks discuss theoretical and managerial implications with limitations and directions for future research.

The Career Engagement Scale: Development and validation of a measure of proactive career behaviors

Careers today increasingly require engagement in proactive career behaviors; however, there is a lack of validated measures assessing the general degree to which somebody is engaged in such career behaviors. We describe the results of six studies with six independent samples of German university students (total N = 2,854), working professionals (total N = 561), and university graduates (N = 141) that report the development and validation of the Career Engagement Scale - a measure of the degree of which somebody is proactively developing her or his career as expressed by diverse career behaviors. The studies provide supprt for measurement invariance across gender and time. In support of convergent and discriminant validity, we find that career engagement is more prevalent among working professionals than among university students and that this scale has incremental validity above several specific career behaviors regarding its relation to vocational identity clarity and career self-efficacy beliefs among students and to job and career satisfaction among employees. In support of incremental predictive validity, beyond the effects of several more specific careeer behaviors, career engagement while at university predicts higher job and career satisfaction several months later after beginning work.

Measuring the Social Identity of Entrepreneurs: Scale Development and International Validation

Recent research indicates that social identity theory offers an important lens to improve our understanding of founders as enterprising individuals, the venture creation process, and its outcomes. Yet, further advances are hindered by the lack of a valid scale that could be used to measure founders' social identities - a problem that is particularly severe because social identity is a multidimensional construct that needs to be assessed properly so that organizational phenomena can be understood. Drawing on social identity theory and the systematic classification of founders' social identities (Darwinians, Communitarians, Missionaries) provided in Fauchart and Gruber (2011), this study develops and empirically validates a 12-item scale that allows scholars to capture the multidimensional nature of social identities of entrepreneurs. Our validation tests are unusually comprehensive and solid, as we not only validate the developed scale in the Alpine region (where it was originally conceived), but also in 12 additional countries and the Anglo-American region. Scholars can use the scale to identify founders' social identities and to relate these identities to micro-level processes and outcomes in new firm creation. Scholars may also link founders' social identities to other levels of analysis such as industries (e.g., industry evolution) or whole economies (e.g., economic growth).

Measuring the Social Identity of Entrepreneurs: Scale Development and International Validation

Social identity theory offers an important lens to improve understanding of founders as enterprising individuals, the venture creation process, and its outcomes. Yet, further advances are hindered by the lack of valid scales to measure founders’ social identities. Drawing on social identity theory and a systematic classification of founders’ social identities (Darwinians, Communitarians, and Missionaries), we develop and test a corresponding 15-item scale in the Alpine region and validate it in 13 additional countries and regions. The scale allows identifying founders’ social identities and relating them to processes and outcomes in entrepreneurship. The scale is available online in 15 languages.

Triple audit; employee attitude scale development and preliminary norms,

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The gambling urge scale: Development, confirmatory factor validation, and psychometric properties

The urge to gamble is a physiological, psychological, or emotional motivational state, often associated with continued gambling. The authors developed and validated the 6-item Gambling Urge Questionnaire (GUS), which was based on the 8-item Alcohol Urge Questionnaire (M. J. Bohn, D. D. Krahn, & B. A. Staehler, 1995), using 968 community-based participants. Exploratory factor analysis using half of the sample indicated a 1-factor solution that accounted for 55.18% of the total variance. This was confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis with the other half of the sample. The GUS had a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of .81. Concurrent, predictive, and criterion-related validity of the GUS were good, suggesting that the GUS is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing gambling urges among nonclinical gamblers.

Intergroup conflict and intergroup effectiveness in organizations:theory and scale development

Many see the absence of conflict between groups as indicative of effective intergroup relations. Others consider its management a suitable effectiveness criterion. In this article we demarcate a different approach and propose that these views are deficient in describing effective intergroup relations. The article theorizes alternative criteria of intergroup effectiveness rooted in team representatives' subjective value judgements and assesses the psychometric characteristics of a short measure based on these criteria. Results on empirical validity suggest the measure to be a potential alternative outcome of organizational conflict. Implications for both the study of intergroup relations and conflict theory are discussed. © 2005 Psychology Press Ltd.

B2B service brand identity:scale development and validation

Several brand identity frameworks have been published in the B2C and the B2B brand marketing literature. A reliable, valid and parsimonious service brand identity scale that empirically establishes the construct's dimensionality in a B2B market has yet to be developed. This paper reports the findings of a study conducted amongst 421 senior executives working in the UK IT Service sector to develop and validate a B2B Service Brand Identity Scale. Following established scale development procedures support is provided for a B2B Service Brand Identity Scale comprising five dimensions; employee and client focus, visual identity, brand personality, consistent communications and human resource initiatives. Concluding remarks discuss theoretical and managerial implications with limitations and directions for future research. © 2011 Elsevier Inc.